Traded

by Rebecca Brooke

  “Why not?” he asked, watching me with shrewd eyes.

  “Because one night of great sex doesn’t mean I’m moving into your room. I may like to be told what to do in your bed, but out here I’ve learned that I can decide for myself and I won’t repeat past mistakes.”

  Ashton smiled. “Most people wouldn’t think to question me. While I want you to stay in my room, I’m thrilled you’re willing to stand up to me.”

  “Of course I am. We’re you afraid I’d keep submitting to you?”

  “To be honest I was worried, but I hoped I was wrong.”

  I sat back in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest. “Well you were.”

  He leaned forward and stole a quick kiss. “I’m glad. Now eat. You need your energy.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re lucky I’m hungry.”

  He chuckled and began eating. Halfway through breakfast, he set his fork down and looked up at me. “I’m meeting Dominic tonight for a payment.”

  My fork almost to my mouth, my hand froze. “What?” I choked out.

  “Dominic text me last night about a payment.”

  I knew what Ashton did for his father—he’d gone to deal with payments while I’d been living here—but this was different. He was meeting a man I never wanted to see again, if I could avoid it. I knew that wasn’t realistic; we were married, after all. If only I could snap my fingers and fix everything.

  “He’s not going to want me back early, is he?”

  “That’s not his choice,” Ashton growled. “He didn’t have the money in time and I refrained from beating him to a bloody pulp because of the deal for you. If he makes that mistake, I’ll kick the shit out of him.”

  I nodded, unable to speak my throat was so dry.

  Ashton brushed his thumb across my cheek. “Elena, you do realize you’ll have to face him eventually?”

  “No. I could just send him the divorce papers in the mail and never see him again.”

  The corners of his mouth turned down. “I wish it were that simple. If you do it that way you’ll always be looking over your shoulder. And you need to show him you’re strong. You have to tell him face to face.”

  I cringed. “I guess I do.”

  Part of me wanted to disappear into the night, never to face Dominic and all of his bullshit ever again, because the thought of having to go back to him already made my heart ready to pound out of my chest. I feared his words would pull me back into a place I was working my way out of.

  “I want to take you to a game one of these days. Just us, no business.”

  One night a week or so ago, I’d told Ashton about what happened the night of the trade, remembering how excited I’d been to finally see a game. Telling Ashton was so embarrassing, but he hadn’t made it awkward. I shivered at the thought of seeing Dominic at the game. He went frequently. How could I be sure he wouldn’t be there when I was?

  “Don’t worry, I don’t want you anywhere near that asshole. You stay here for the game tonight, we can deal with him when the time comes.”

  I nodded and continued with my breakfast, my stomach better. Ashton finished eating long before me and sat sipping another cup of coffee. Picking up our dishes, I walked them to the sink and as I came back to my seat, Ashton’s hand grabbed mine, stopping me in my tracks. His glasses were conveniently gone, the green in his eyes even brighter.

  He growled and tugged me to him, his mouth devouring mine. Electricity zipped along my nerves when his tongue plunged into my mouth. Demanding. Possessive. Sexy. Braver than I thought I could be, I let my hands slid up his chest, tracing each ridge of his muscled abdomen, the skin silky beneath my fingertips. He pulled away suddenly, and I thought for a minute I’d done something wrong.

  Taking hold of my shoulders, he spun me around and my hands fell forward, my palms flat against the table. A primitive desire took hold, my core throbbing with need.

  “Ashton.”

  Fingertips wrapped around the waistband of my pants and they, along with my panties, were yanked down around my thighs. Sensation spread through me. One of Ashton’s fingers slipped through my core to circle my clit, the warm heat of his body covering my back as he pressed himself against me.

  “You have a sexy ass,” he said, taking little nibbles of my shoulder between his words. “And one of these days I’m going to fuck you right here.” His finger traced around the edge of the one place I’d never considered letting a man go and I gasped, my hips bucking forward. It was scary, yet exciting at the same time. His finger moved away, then there was a slight sting when his hand smacked my ass cheek, the feeling so delicious that my thighs quivered.

  “But right now I want hard and fast.” The commanding timbre of his voice was almost my undoing.

  “Please,” I begged, sliding my ass back, searching for him.

  Smack!

  “Oh no, no, my sweet.” His hand gripped my hip, holding me in place, while the thumb of his other hand pressed into my core, the spicy musk that was uniquely Ashton surrounding me. “So fucking ready. You like being told what to do.”

  “Yes.” I whimpered. “Please.”

  There was a tear of foil; a sound so delicious I clenched in anticipation. Ashton pushed into me in one long thrust, filling me completely.

  “Oh God.”

  “Never get tired of the feel of you around my cock,” he grunted.

  Each time he sank into me my body tensed, looking for the sweeping pleasure of the previous night.

  “I’m so close.”

  His hand reached around to pinch my clit and sparks shot off through my body, clenching tight, pulling him into me as he continued to thrust. It wasn’t long before he his thrusts lost their rhythm and came in short hard bursts, his fingers biting into my skin until, finally, he grunted, pressing himself against me, holding himself there.

  For a few minutes, we were both unable to speak. Eventually, he stood, pulling me up with him. “You, my dear, are absolutely amazing,” he said against my ear. When I turned my head, his lips once again took possession of mine. The kiss wasn’t animalistic in its passion, but it burned me to my toes anyway. He pulled away, breathless, staring at me for a beat before helping me to right my clothes.

  “I’ve got to get ready to leave. I want you to enjoy your day. Don’t worry about anything.”

  “I’ll try.”

  “Do you have to rehearse today?”

  “No. They still need one more cast member and the auditions are today.”

  I was extremely glad I didn’t have to go anywhere because the excitement of waking up in Ashton’s bed had worn off and I was exhausted. The question of whether or not to move into his room began to swirl through my head. I couldn’t make my decision based upon sex. I needed to be smarter than that. And to be smart, I needed headspace.

  “Okay. I’m going to head over to the stadium straight from the restaurant so I’ll be late. Text me if you need anything.” He pressed a brief kiss to my lips and left me alone in the kitchen with nothing but my thoughts.

  Deciding to blow off some steam, I went down to the basement and hit the treadmill. With each mile, I wondered if I should feel guilty for sleeping with another man. A little voice in the back of my head said yes, while the rest chanted a resounding hell no. Dominic had given me permission to have sex with Ashton. Technically, I was doing as I’d been told.

  From the moment I met him, Ashton had encouraged me to stand up for myself, to see myself as worthy. There was no need to feel guilty about a man who treated me the way I deserved to be treated. Not to mention his dominant ways were more of a turn on than I’d ever expected.

  Is it too soon to move into his bedroom?

  For hours I pondered the answer, but even if I had a hundred valid reasons not to do it, I knew that I wanted to wake up in Ashton’s bed every morning. If he planned night after night of delicious torment for me, I was jumping into the deep end with no lifejacket on.

  I was done making everyone else happy.


  It was time to be a big girl and make decisions for me.

  CHAPTER 15

  Ashton

  Walking toward the doors of the restaurant, my mind was completely focused on Elena. Mentioning Dominic to her only hours after she’d spent the night in my bed hadn’t been the best move. It was obvious the idea of facing him still made her nervous; something I hoped to help her with before she saw him again.

  Even though she shot me down, I had a feeling she was considering my offer to sleep in my room every night. I was thrilled she hadn’t caved immediately. It proved she was becoming stronger—standing up for herself. I wasn’t kidding when I told her she’d need to face him eventually, and if she had a chance of getting away from him once and for all, she’d need to be able to hold her own.

  I really wished I hadn’t chosen to conduct these meetings at the games. I used to love to go there and relax, have a few drinks and unwind, but now I’d begun to dread being there. Having to deal with Tolley just made it that much worse. The more time I spent with Elena, the more I realized just how much damage he’d done, and that made it harder to curb the desire to knock his head off.

  “Morning, Mr. Hawes.”

  I rolled my eyes at Dustin, the bartender. No matter how many times I told him to call me Ashton, he never listened. For some reason, he thought it was funny. I failed to see the joke.

  I stopped briefly to discuss the liquor order, then headed to my office.

  My desk was full of paperwork, which was my own fault. For the past few weeks I’d been leaving early to get home to Elena. It felt weird to hurry home to someone, but so right at the same time. Except there was a shit-ton of guilt attached to it. Never once had I slept with a married woman. I may have a skewed moral compass, but I still had one. And one of the things my father had drilled into us over the years was that you don’t cheat on your spouse, or sleep with someone else’s. Although Dad didn’t seem to have an issue with the current situation.

  Pushing the guilt to the back corner of my mind, I began tackling the orders for the next week. It took me longer than normal; thoughts of Elena in my bed every night more than a little distracting.

  Maybe Dad was right when he said I felt more for Elena than lust.

  I had feelings for Elena that went a whole lot deeper than saving her from a bad situation. Figured that, for the first time in my life, I wanted a woman for more than a few weeks, a woman who happened to be the perfect match for me in every way imaginable, and she was married to a man that gave a new definition to the word asshole.

  Everything in my life had been that way. I had the education and experience to become a chef in a high profile restaurant, except that the business didn’t give me the time to work in a restaurant. My way of overcoming that was to buy my own and make them more successful than anything else in the area.

  If there was anyone that could overcome the obstacles that stood in the way of Elena and I making a go of this thing, it was me.

  

  The game was in the third inning and still no sign of the rat bastard, though saying that, I’d still have to stay the whole game, even if he’d showed up during the first inning. Leaving right after him would be too suspicious. Dad was adamant we remain cautious if we were to avoid being caught. If the home team was losing, I could sneak out early since half of the stadium would be leaving with me.

  Brock called for dinner earlier in the evening and the only thing I could think about were the meals I’d shared with Elena over the last few weeks. There had only been three times, including tonight, where she’d been left to eat alone. I knew she didn’t have any friends, except the one from the diner. Dominic had done one hell of a job isolating her from everyone in her life.

  “Ashton, what the hell is up with you?”

  I peered over my shoulder at Brock to find him staring at me, brows drawn down.

  “What do you mean?”

  He pointed at my plate with his own fork. “Let’s start with the fact that you haven’t touched your steak, one of your favorites. Not to mention you haven’t paid one bit of attention to the game. You always said the best part of dealing with all of this shit was watching the game in privacy.” He moved his fork toward the glass in front of me. “You haven’t even noticed that your team is up by four runs.”

  Glancing toward the scoreboard, I notice the score one to five. How did I miss that? The only number I’d been paying attention to was the inning, wanting the game to be over sooner rather than later. I pulled off my glasses and rubbed my eyes before putting them back in place. “I guess I’m distracted.”

  “It’s the girl, isn’t it? I saw the way you looked at her that first night.”

  I couldn’t lie to Brock. He’d been through enough shit with me. He deserved the truth. “Yeah, it’s her.”

  “You know you’re walking into a huge pile of shit by getting involved with her, right?”

  “Why do you say that?” I growled, feeling my blood pressure rise. Friend or not, he was not going to sit there and bash Elena. She’d been through enough.

  “Look at yourself, ready to fight me over another man’s wife. Does that even make sense? And if you’re not careful you’re going to end up getting sloppy, which you can’t afford.”

  I looked down and saw my hands, clenched into a fist. With an effort, I forced them to relax. “I’m just fucking her—not asking her to marry me.”

  “Could have fooled me.”

  “What do you know?” I snapped.

  “Look, I’ve known you for years and I’ve never seen you this fucked up over a woman. You rarely ever pay them any attention, unless you want to sleep with them, and this time it’s all about a married woman. What happens when it’s time for her to go back to her piece of shit husband?”

  I groaned and my head fell against the back of the chair. “I’m still hoping she’ll choose not to.”

  “Can’t guarantee that. And do you really want to take on a crazy fucker like Tolley? Any bastard willing to trade his wife to save his own ass must have a few screws loose.”

  My head snapped up. “I’ll bury the son of a bitch if I have to.”

  “I doubt your father would be real thrilled with that.”

  I laughed humorlessly. “I wouldn’t bet on that. Dad met her last week. Trust me, after hearing what she’s been through, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did it himself.”

  “Another David?”

  What my father had done to David was worse than death. Even Brock couldn’t stomach the stories we’d all heard, and seeing the man first hand made it very clear that most of the rumors were true.

  David never walked again after my dad “visited” him. He was missing his left eye and right ear, and one leg had been shattered so badly they’d had to amputate it to save his life. He had third degree burns on his head, neck, chest, and back, but the torture hadn’t stopped there. Half of his fingers were broken, the other half cut off, and his tongue was missing. I didn’t want to think about what happened to his junk. A shiver ran down my spine thinking about it. How the hell my father had managed to get away with it was beyond me.

  “Possibly.”

  There was a knock on the door.

  “Speaking of Tolley,” Brock said, getting up to let him in.

  The slimy bastard sauntered into the room like he owned the place. He stepped in front of me, holding out a small envelope in his left hand. It was nowhere near big enough to hold the amount of money he owed me. All of my debtors knew they weren’t allowed to pay me with anything higher than a fifty.

  Why do I get the feeling that the man thinks he has one over on me?

  “I’m guessing by the size of this envelope that this isn’t even an eighth of what you owe me.” I handed the envelope over to Brock to start counting.

  “It’s ten grand. I’ll have the rest by the end of our agreement. I should have thought to trade her sooner. I don’t have to use hotels anymore, but I do hate having to clean the apartment.” His eye
s darted around the room. “Where is the lazy bitch, anyway? She better be doing what I told her to, even though she’s a lousy lay.”

  I leapt from the chair and without a thought let my fist fly. It connected with his face and he stumbled back, bumping into one of the tables. With another punch, I knocked him to the floor, leaping onto his chest. My glasses flew off my face and slid across the room.

  “Don’t you ever . . . talk about her . . . like that . . . again!”

  This wasn’t the first time I’d had to make my point with my fist. Hell, it wasn’t even the tenth. This piece of shit was lucky it was only my fist I was using. I felt the cold steel of my glock shifting against my hip as I swung back again and again.

  I didn’t hide behind my muscle. I might have used Brock from time to time, but that was when I had more pressing business, or when the person involved wasn’t worthy of me getting my hands dirty. I had a reputation—one I’d earned. You did not fuck with me, and Elena was mine, at least for the moment, and therefore this guy did not fuck with her either.

  Blood splattered across my hands and arms, my shoulders ached and my knuckles were raw. I reached back to take another swing, not giving two shits about the damage I was doing to him, when strong arms wrapped around my chest, pulling me away.

  “He’s out cold.”

  My breaths came in pants. I looked down. One eye was already swollen shut, his hair, stained red, clung to his head, blood dripped from his nose, which now bent at an awkward angle.

  “Get him out of here,” I snarled. “Call someone to stay with the fucker until he wakes up and make it very clear that if ever talks about Elena that way again, he’ll be praying for me to only knock him out.”

  “Ashton—” Brock started.

  “I don’t want to fucking hear it,” I yelled. “Get that motherfucker out of my sight.”

  Brock didn’t argue further. He quietly scooped up Dominic and pulled him into one of the bathrooms at the back of the clubhouse. There were too many people milling around to get him out of the stadium, but I was too pissed to think rationally. I didn’t want to think about the why on that one.